“There’s No Limit To Where We Can Go” – 3 Demo Africa Startups Share Why There’s Never Been A Better Time To Be In Tech

Startup launch event, Demo Africa once again attracted some of the continent’s best startup talent. Held 23 and 24 November, the conference for emerging technology and trends, serves as a platform for entrepreneurs to pitch their startups to a panel of investors.

This year’s startups included, from South Africa, Finchatbot, a startup offering chatbots as an alternative to conventional call centres, Tapsnapp, which takes the hassle out of hiring photographers, and Sellio, a Uganda-based AI-powered advertising and sales automation software for SMEs.

We took the opportunity to find out from a few of them why they do what they do. This is in light of the 2017 Ventureburn Tech Startup Survey, released this week, which shows that only 27% of tech startups in the country can be termed “successful”, in that they are generating a profit or are growing.

This is what 3 startup founders had to say about why the tech space is still an exciting place to be:

“There’s a lot of opportunities in terms of creating something great. That’s the exciting part. Compared to five years ago, the industry has picked up a bit, there’s more guidance in terms of training, growth etc. – KabeloTwala, Airbuy

Airbuy is a payment method that enables users to buy goods online without a credit or debit card. It aims to eliminate the risk of fraud and scamming.

The app uses Airbucks, which are digital tokens which can be topped up by converting Airbuy vouchers, airtime, mobile transfer or Bitcoin, which customers can use to pay for goods at participating Airbuy ecommerce sites.

“Tech is on the rise. What’s exciting for us is it’s easy to create a business and go global. We started in Johannesburg and in four months we have 400 entrepreneurs signed up on our platform across the country. In the last few weeks we’ve gotten people from Botswana and Swaziland. It’s easy to expand and there’s no limits to where we can go. So [it’s exciting] just in terms of what’s possible” – JaiprakashSewram, Tapsnapp

Tapsnapp serves as a marketplace for travellers and holiday makers looking for photographers, and if they wish, learn how to take great photos themselves from professional photographers. The platform provides a list of experiences with over 400 professional photographers in both South Africa and Africa.

I'm a journalist for online publication, SME South Africa. I'm a BA journalism graduate from the University of Johannesburg. My areas of focus when it comes to writing are entrepreneurs, startups, marketing and funding. I also enjoy creative writing and proofreading.